Dark New Day
| otherbands = , , , Sevendust, , , , , , , , | url = Darknewday.com | curmembers = , , , | pastmembers = Clint Lowery, }} Dark New Day is an American hard rock supergroup formed in 2005 featuring Brett Hestla of Virgos Merlot, Troy McLawhorn of DoubleDrive, Clint Lowery of Sevendust, Corey Lowery of Stereomud, Stuck Mojo, and Will Hunt of Skrape releasing debut album Twelve Year Silence in 2005 and the EP Black Porch (Acoustic Sessions) in 2006. History Formation, Twelve Year Silence (2004-2005) The group initially formed under the name Dark Blue in late 2004 by childhood friends Brett Hestla, of Virgos Merlot, Troy McLawhorn, of DoubleDrive, Clint Lowery, of Sevendust, Corey Lowery, of Stereomud, Stuck Mojo, and Will Hunt of Skrape. After signing a deal with Warner Bros. Records, they began recording their debut album with producer Ben Grosse, whos previous production credits include Filter, Fuel, Sevendust and Alter Bridge. It was reported that the group were to make their live debut at Wills Pub in Orlando, Florida however the band announced on the fan forum that they never said they would play that show and they had previous engagements that prevented them from playing on that date. On January 29, it was announced that the group were changing their name from Dark Blue to Dark New Day, no reason was given for the change. The group set Twelve Year Silence as the title of their debut album and posted their songs, Taking Me Alive, Lean and Heal In Time, on their MySpace. The group selected Brother as the first single from their album, which charted at #7 on the US Mainstream Rock chart, and announced tour dates supporting . The song Taking Me Alive was included in the soundtrack for 2005 film House of Wax due May 3 via Maverick Records. The group announced more shows running from July through to September with Seether and Crossfade as well as a couple of solo shows. Twelve Year Silence was released on June 14, charting at #103 on the Billboard 200 selling over 12,000 copies in its first week. The second single from the album Pieces, which charted at #28 on the US Mainstream Rock chart, was included in the compilation album Best of the Taste of Chaos. ''Black Porch'' (Acoustic Sessions) EP (2006) In April, 2006, drummer Hunt temporarily joined Mötley Crüe for a string of dates in Canada, filling in for the injured Tommy Lee. Also Dark New Day announced they were to release an acoustic extended play, which would include two new songs, in the summer as well as begin working on the follow up to their debut album. They played two shows in May in Jackson, Mississippi and Orlando, Florida. The song Follow the Sun Down was chose as the first single from the now titled Black Porch (Acoustic Sessions) and invited fans to participate in the shooting of the video for the single. A digital download release of the EP was to be released on September 5 but there were no plans for a CD release. In December, guitarist Clint Lowery stated that the band were "searching for producers right now to collabrate with" after working on new material on and off since their debut release and were to begin recording in January, 2007. Second album, lineup changes (2007–2008) In January 2007, it was announced that Hunt was to tour as part of Vince Neil's solo band in Australia in March/April while in February Clint Lowery was recruited as a touring guitarist for . The group stated that they were to continue on despite Clint's involvement with KoЯn, a move which they supported, and planned to enter the studio on March, 26. On May 17, 2007, it was announced that both Hunt and McLawhorn would temporarily join Evanescence as their touring guitarist and drummer, respectively. Evanescence lead singer Amy Lee stated that "We're just borrowing Will and Troy for awhile" and that they would not be leaving Dark New Day. There were growing rumours that the group were on the verge of splitting up due to Hunt and McLawhorn's involvement with Evanescence however guitarist Clint Lowery shot down these rumours stating: 'As you may have heard Will and Troy are going out with Evanescence. And you've heard I'm going out with KoЯn this year. I'm here to say Dark New Day will live on. We recorded some great material recently with Dave Bendeth and I just met with my A&R guy at our label. All of us are gonna be off in September after Family Values and we will record our record then. The great thing is I'll be out there with Troy and Will and we can continue writing with them for the new record.' On June 25, a new song titled Hail Mary was posted on the groups myspace. In September 2007, Clint posted on Dark New Day's MySpace page saying that the band returned to the studio to record their next album with producer Dave Bendeth. Mixing began in November and the album was completed by December with the band confirming some of the songs titles to appear on the album such as Simple, Hail Mary, Fiend, Outside and Vicious Thinking. In March 2008, the group posted one of the tracks set to appear on the new album on myspace titled Goodbye, however a few days later it was announced that Clint had rejoined previous band Sevendust although he still hoped the new album would be released soon. In April, drummer Hunt issued an update stating that Warner Bros. had decided to release the album however no release date was set. In May, guitarist Troy McLawhorn became the second member to leave the group. The group announced the addition of Switched guitarist B.C. Kochmit, who Hunt described as "the perfect combination of Troy and Clint", with frontman Brett Hestla also taking up guitar duties for the group. They also announced they would be releasing a series of Demo Tracks as downloadable "releases" in anticipation for their new album. Two songs from these were posted to the band's MySpace page, Fiend (Version 1) and I Don't Need You. On July 28, three new songs were added to their MySpace page, Anywhere, Simple and Vicious Thinking, as well as another version of Fiend, Goodbye and Hail Mary. They also announced a one-off show at the Three Bears Café in Marietta, Georgia on September 6 where, during the show, former guitarist Clint joined them on stage, after Sevendust's show was cancelled due to tropical storm Hannah. Recent events (2009–present) In February 2009, former guitarist Clint Lowery issued an update for the band since "there hasn't been a official statement given" in sometime by the group stating it was unlikely that the album would be given an official release but that he would find out if there was a chance of the album being made available on iTunes. Despite this he stated that his update didn't clear much up and that the future of the group "doesn't look good". In June 2009, it was announced that both Dark New Day members Corey Lowery and B.C. Kochmit had formed a new group called Violent Plan with singer Donnie Hamby, of DoubleDrive, and drummer Dan Richardson, of Pro-Pain, Crumbsuckers, Life of Agony and Stereomud completing a nine song demo. However this group was short lived and by November they disbanded. In November it was announced, along with the break-up of Violent Plan, that Corey Lowery and B.C. Kochmit had formed another group called Eye Empire in October, with Donald Carpenter, formerly of Submersed. The group's lineup was rounded off with drummer Garrett Whitlock, also formerly of Submersed, and solo artist on guitar. The new group have posted demos on their official myspace and have toured with Sevendust. In February 2010, it was announced that drummer Will Hunt, currently with Evanescence, would join Black Label Society for the recording of their new album as well as touring with the group. Members Current Line-Up (As of 2008) :* - Lead vocals, Rhythm guitar :* - Lead guitar, Vocals :* - Bass, Vocals :* - Drums, Vocals Former Members :*Clint Lowery - Guitar, Vocals :* - Guitar, Vocals Discography :*Twelve Year Silence (June 14, 2005) :*Black Porch (Acoustic Sessions) (EP) (September 5, 2006) External Links/References :*Official MySpace of Dark New Day :*Last.fm - Dark New Day